Buffalo Gap wine, food event refreshing

The 5th annual Buffalo Gap Wine and Food Summit took place last weekend at Perini Ranch.

It attracted hundreds of wine and food aficionados, and it was a resounding success.

One of the great things about wine is that there is always more for you to learn.

This year's summit was quite educational thanks to a wine-tasting seminar and some sophisticated panel discussions.

It is also educational to simply taste a lot of different wines.

I attended the summit with a well-known wine connoisseur, and I enjoyed comparing my notes with him.

Our comparisons proved, as usual, that people have different wine preferences.

When tasting flights of three or four wines, our favorite was different from each other's at least half of the time.

This is good news for perfectionists who worry about having the "right" taste in wine.

There is no such thing.

You just need to experiment until you find the wines you like.

For my purposes as a wine columnist, I also focus on wines that are widely available and easy on the pocketbook.

From that perspective, the summit's big winner was definitely Llano Estacado Winery.

We sampled Llano Estacado's crisp and refreshing Sauvignon Blanc ($10) and complex and juicy Signature Melange Red ($11).

Both showed well when compared with pricier wines.

Several of the wines from McPherson, Becker and Brennan Vineyards also provided strong quality for the price.

From the California wineries in attendance, good values included:

n Meeker's Lobster Cove Chardonnay ($14)

n Robert Hall Sauvignon Blanc ($15)

n Rowland Cellars Ramspeck Cabernet Sauvignon ($18).

Vianei Robinson can be contacted at vlr@robinsonlawfirm.com. Her column appears on Wednesdays.

We sampled Llano Estacado's crisp and refreshing Sauvignon Blanc ($10) and complex and juicy Signature Melange Red ($11). Both showed well.